Pianist Dan DeChellis has made an unassuming mark on the jazz/improv scene since the mid-1990s, having released several sessions on his own Sachimay label in settings that range from solo piano to full-out improv ensembles. For Under Careful Watch The Spoken Words Fly, he joins young Pakistani-American saxophonist Aaron Ali Shaikh for an intimate set of duets that mine the commonalities between Shaikh’s microtonal technique and DeChellis’ blend of classical and improvisational mindsets.

Although DeChellis is the elder and more experienced of the two musicians, he seems content to step back and let Shaikh take the spotlight for the majority of these freely improvised pieces. Frequently his presence is more implied than felt, as on “Subtle Mechanics”, where his chords teeter on the edge of audibility, creating a fragile net to capture the serrated edges of Shaikh’s sopranino outbursts. Yet elsewhere he makes his essence more than clear, as both the extended introduction to “Intuitive Knowledge” and his register-straddling flourishes on “The Beauty of Thought, Feeling and Sound As They Are the One” authoritatively state. But even so, DeChellis’ chamber-influenced approach to improvisation heavily informs the session by placing equal emphasis on his conceptual and instrumental contributions.

There’s a certain Braxtonian tint to Shaikh’s playing, even though he identifies himself with the microtonal school of thought. It’s not just a matter of his alliances with Professor Braxton and several of his associates, nor is it simply due to his choice in horns (sopranino, soprano, and alto saxophones): Shaikh has embraced the angular, sharply fluid approach to constructing his lines that is such a prominent facet of Braxton’s style. But the saxophonist is also very comfortable with more sound-oriented methodology, as on “Embracing What Is There”, where he builds his extended melodic-leaning runs from more abstract series of respiratory and multiphonic overtones. Similarly, “Indescribable Resonance” finds vocal exhortations slipping past Shaikh’s reed in his reach for the soprano’s uppermost registers.

While a certain sense of quietude does define the disc as a whole, the duo can still belt it out with a gratifying force on something like “Peace and Blessings”—easily the session’s most aggressive piece. And even though the wordy titles assigned to both the disc and its constituent parts are at odds with the poetic minimalism of the music they describe, it’s not enough to detract from an impressive performance by both musicians.